Napoleon launched his invasion of Egypt in 1798.
The expedition began when the French fleet departed Toulon in May 1798 and French troops landed at Alexandria on 28 June. Napoleon commanded roughly 36,000 soldiers, supported by naval forces and a large group of scientists, engineers, artists, and scholars. The campaign was aimed partly at threatening Britain’s trade routes to India and expanding French influence in the eastern Mediterranean.
Napoleon quickly moved against the Mamluk rulers of Egypt. His army won the Battle of the Pyramids on 21 July 1798 and entered Cairo soon afterward. Despite these victories on land, the French position was badly damaged when Admiral Horatio Nelson destroyed much of the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in August. The army became isolated from France and struggled to maintain control.
The invasion continued into Syria in 1799, but Napoleon’s advance ended unsuccessfully at the Siege of Acre. Napoleon left Egypt for France in August 1799, while French forces remained until their final defeat and surrender in 1801. Thus, 1798 marks the launch of the invasion, not the end of the wider campaign.